Okay, so this episode kind of backtracked in quality a bit. Though I guess this anime wasn’t the best quality in the first place so I guess it’s just me calling out the obvious again. And while there were a lot of problems with this episode, it still felt like stupid fun. I was calling so many things happening so stupid but I was laughing. So I guess I was having fun with the episode to an extent lol.
The episode continued where it left off with preparations for the Tanabata Drefes with all the units being pretty pumped. As expected, the episode was mostly Valkyrie centered, though they weren’t always in the spotlight as Eichi stole a chunk of the episode for himself. Not gonna lie, it’s getting pretty annoying how they keep shoving Eichi problems into EVERY single episode since his appearance. It’s kind of like what Persona 5 the animation did with Akechi, shoving him in more places than he’s supposed to. I’m not sure whether Eichi is always there in the games, but I’m getting pretty tired of the series trying REALLY HARD to get me to sympathize and like the guy. It isn’t working because I’m just done with the dude. Just because he feels jealous towards everyone because they don’t have to deal with a weak body, doesn’t mean he gets a free pass for ruining other students’ school idol life. It feels like the series is basically making him out to be the protagonist rather than Trickstar now. I just want one episode where he isn’t there hogging screen time.
But enough about Eichi, back to Valkyrie. I literally had to roll my eyes when Eichi stated how far they’ve fallen from when they were known as the Emperor of the school. AND WHO’S FAULT WAS THAT?! Don’t act like you had nothing to do with it! While it may have partially been their fault for not changing with the times, Valkyrie has had it rough since that sabotaged concert. So it was definitely nice to see them stand back on stage and basically show the actual gap between them and fine. Though I wish we actually got to see why their performance was so good rather than everyone reading each others’ minds and playing spectator. And while Valkyrie ultimately ended losing to fine, they finally addressed something that I had pointed out earlier. fine is still very popular and has its own fanbase, so no matter what Valkyrie does, they’re going to support fine even if their performance wasn’t the best. Which is definitely not fair, but it’s realistic. So I did feel bad for them when they unfairly lost. However, they were able to show Eichi a thing or two during their performance so I suppose there is that. I also appreciated how the essentrics still care for one another and Shinkai was able to give Itsuki some words of wisdom after he went sulking to him. This group is like a bunch of brotps and I’m living for it.
Also, Mika and Itsuki’s relationship doesn’t… sound healthy. The way he claims he’ll break his body if it meant being of use to Itsuki and he doesn’t care if he has no future. Mika sounds a tad too attached to Itsuki and it’s mildly uncomfortable.
It seems like there is a little bit of bad blood between Valkyrie and Nito. Though it’s not that surprising. Considering how attached Itsuki was to Nito, it makes sense that he views him as a traitor for leaving. Despite all that, it was made clear that Itsuki still cares for Nito as a former member of Valkyrie and friend. Especially when Eichi threatened to crush Ra*bits, he took up the challenge to face fine instead to protect him. So kudos to him for that.
I wish we got to see at least a little bit of the other performances and how exactly they played out. It also drives me crazy when they always flash forward to after the winning group was announced and then reminisce about it. It literally just happened, we don’t need a flashback of it! And it’s an even bigger shame when we didn’t even get to see how some of the other groups like Switch and UNDEAD participated. Also, whatever happened to Anzu’s party of big strong men?! I am disappointed!
Despite my disappointment, there were still some gems scattered throughout the episode. Such as when AKATSUKI tried to make amends to Rabits from what happened during their first Drefest by passing up their opportunity to continue since something came up, giving Rabits a chance to continue showing their stuff. It was a very sweet gesture and it shows that AKATSUKI, more specifically Keito, isn’t the terrible antagonist as they were seen as at the beginning. Though we already knew that by this point lol. Though it ended up in vain since Ra*bits almost immediately gave their opportunity up to Valkyrie in order to let them face fine instead. Which was a bit of a downer on that end. It felt like: what was the point if they were just going to hand off their opportunity off in the first place??? AKATSUKI’s act of selflessness was for nothing!
I want to take a moment to talk about the moments that just had me laughing a lot harder than I should have. Such as when Kiriyu just broke through the door and Anzu just immediately turns to him in a fashion as if to say “you did not.” Also Itsuki making destroying noises in the background had me giggling pretty hard. Not sure why things getting broken off screen tickles my funny bone. Keito also showed a hilarious side to him this episode starting with how he asked to bring him his bow to shoot down the disappointment of the school. I was DYING when he said that with the most deadpan expression on his face. That was both so savage and hilarious, I couldn’t believe it! He also had me rolling when a fan of his asked him to hit her with his bow and end it with him saying “bang.” That whole scene was framed so perfectly with Kiriyu and Kanzaki slowly backing away with him, leaving him to just stare blankly at the desire. I was also not expecting (nor ready) for him to add such a cutesy “bang” at the end. I was in tears when he said afterwards to “end his life right now” out of pure embarrassment. He’s such a cute, oh my gosh.
This episode was definitely rushed and certain things annoyed me, but at the end, I still had fun with the absurdness that went on and got quite the laugh out of several scenes. The Essentrics are still the best group, Keito continues to amuse me, my dislike towards Eichi marches forward and Nito is a good boy and the most fleshed out character I care about. Some things just will not change. Though I look forward to seeing more of knights since that’s one of the groups we know the least about them overall in case of backstory. Especially since I know they’re missing a member. Hopefully they’ll show up next episode or soonish, I really like their music lol.
I think the chapter was ok, but the truth is that this and the previous one were something like a collage of like 4 events.
My expectations betrayed me again, I really expected much more from valkyrie’s performance because this is supposed to be their moment, when they finally return from their “retirement”. And something they failed to convey was the fact that not only Valkyrie’s presentation was better than fine, they practically destroyed Fine. It’s great because it shows that Eichi couldn’t in any way have won against any of the 5 oddballs (eccentrics) without resorting to his tricks.
About Eichi, a thing to keep in mind is that this story is set in summer, a whole season away from the main story and things have happened since then. I don’t try to justify Eichi (it’s not even a character that I like so much) but I think it’s necessary in the story, especially when it comes to any character that has been affected by what Eichi caused.
As for knights, the next chapter is SS which means we’ll see trickstar again. So we need to wait to see what happened with knights and why they haven’t appeared so far.
No wonder if felt overloaded with so many things. And I’m totally with you on Valkyrie. I expected them to actually show me why it was so good, but I should have known better since the anime LOVES to tell rather than show. Which is a shame. They definitely didn’t give the viewers the idea that Valkyrie’s performance curbstomped fine’s. I knew they were better, but I wasn’t sure just HOW MUCH better they were. They definitely could have benefited if they focused more on Valkyrie in the two episodes rather than having them focused upon in the second ep.
It makes sense why Eichi is appearing, but it’s honestly just getting on my nerves at this point. They guy wronged so many people and I just can’t like or forgive him for that.
Aw man… I was kinda hoping we wouldn’t go back to Trickstar for a while… and also hoping that we’d see knights sooner. Beggars can’t be choosers I suppose.